Our dairy farm

We’ve had our dairy farm for just over 2 1/2 years and that’s also as long as we have been dairying! The farm is 250 acres of rolling hills in South West Gippsland. The current herd is 125 milkers, 50 heifers which are up and coming milkers, and 75 calves.

Around the farm.

This summer has been kind to us so far. There was good rain in late December and early January. The grass is still green and the clovers are growing well. The dams started to go down in early Summer but are now nearly full again. Because there is not as much grass for the milkers we have started to feed out extra hay and silage. We make our own silage but buy in good quality vetch hay.

Soon after calves are born they are brought indoors. They are fed milk for about 6 weeks. Hay and grain is also provided so their digestive systems can develop properly. We have calves in both Spring and Autumn.

Projects.

The major project at the moment is extending the dairy yard. We are expecting an increase in numbers of milkers this Autumn and another jump in Spring so we need to be ready. We recently installed a new larger vat and cooling system to cope with the expected increase in herd size. The main lane-way has been extended and is now close to 1 km long. New drinking troughs have been installed so the girls don’t have to walk too far for a drink.

Day by day

The day starts around 6 – 6:30 when we go out to get the cows. Milking usually starts around 7 am. In the afternoon we go out for the cows at around 3 pm on a normal day but later if its hot so its more comfortable for the girls. Feeding out is done in the paddocks if its dry but we also use our concrete feed pad.

After breakfast the young calves have to be fed. They get grain and sometimes silage or hay in their paddocks. The rest of the time in between is spent on all those extras like book-work, repairing fences and machinery, working on major projects and shopping for supplies. We regularly bring calves and heifers up to the dairy yards to attend to any health issues.

Here are some of the girls hard at work making milk! We move them around so that they only spend around 1 day in each paddock. There are around 30 paddocks in rotation. The herd is a mixture of Friesians, Jerseys and some crosses between the two. In our AI program we have introduced some Scandinavian Red and Aussie Red breeds.